Cameras have been proposed, such as disclosed in prior art U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,831, issued Apr. 22, 1986, that include means for taking pictures which when printed are intended to have aspect ratios different than the aspect ratios of the negatives. Each aspect ratio for a print is selected by the photographer before he or she takes the picture. One currently popular aspect ratio for prints, in addition to the normal or full frame one, i.e. 1.5:1, is between 2:1 and 3:1. An aspect ratio between 2:1 and 3:1 provides a panoramic or stretch format print as compared to the normal format print having an aspect ratio of 1.5:1.
Since it is necessary for the photographer to know how much of the subject will be included in the print, the viewfinder in these cameras typically will have some masking device, such as a masking blade, for partially masking the field of view of the viewfinder to change the aspect ratio of the field of view to the aspect ratio selected by the photographer.
Also, to enable a print to be made having the aspect ratio selected by the photographer, an optical or magnetic film encodement identifying the selected ratio is recorded for each picture. During photofinishing the encodement is read from within or adjacent the negative to make the print with the selected ratio.